Park University's women's basketball program had a road test against No. 5 Clarke University on Saturday, ending in a Clarke win, 70-60.

Pirates have had tough opponent after tough opponent and now stand at 10-14 on the season and 7-13 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. The Pride sit on top of the Heart at 23-1 and 19-1 of the same, not to mention they have been within the Top 10 this whole year.

Clarke got out to a 8-2 run to begin the game, Iva Drobnjak got Park on board with the opening points, while Makayla Artis answered again for Park at the 7:06 mark with a layup to make it 8-4. A three pointer and a two-point jump shot extended the Pride lead to nine points at 4:53, 15-6. The Pirates had a scoring drought for 3:53 and Park was given some life by Emma Perry's three-pointer at 2:39 left in the quarter. Still, Clarke had made some baskets of their own in that span and led by 11, 20-9. Like the start of the quarter, an 8-2 run would ensue to finish at 28-11 going into the second period.

The scoring was spread around at the start of the second quarter for Park, Artis, Angel Wiggins, and Nevaeh Spillman each scored in the first 2:26. Clarke stayed in control though by 14 points, 30-16 with 7:19 left in the half. The offense continued to gain traction for the Pride and outscored the Pirates 17-9 to finish the half at 47-25.

An 12-2 run over 5:00 gave the Pride their largest lead of the Pirates of the day of 32 points, 59-27. A 5-0 run for Park brought on by Spillman and Drobnjak would end the quarter, 63-35.

Park played hard to the end to make for a respectable finish and soon were riding a 12-2 run extended from the third quarter to 6:36 in the fourth quarter. Drobnjak helped shave the lead down with a three-pointer and Artis did her role down low well with an offensive rebound and put back in that span as well. From being down 24 points, 67-43 with 5:58 to go, Park played great ball and outscored Clarke 25-7 in the fourth quarter. In the end Clarke held on for a 70-60 win and relied on their first three quarters of play for the win.

Wiggins led the charge in the fourth quarter for Park with eight fourth quarter points and was four-of-five from the line. She led Park for the game with 15 points, while Drobnjak was up there too with a 14-point performance.

Perry made it to 10 points in the contest, while Artis was close to double-double figures with nine points and eight rebounds. Drobnjak was also working hard off the glass and was one rebound away from a double-double.

Both Artis and Drobnjak had four offensive rebounds on the day.

As a team, Park shot 35.6-percent to Clarke's 42.1-percent from the field.

Park was only two-of-10 from beyond the arc, while Clarke made seven three-pointers despite not a high percentage of 28-percent.

Park made it to the line more often then the Pride, but were 16-of-24 from the strike compared to the Pride's 15-of-17.

Each team had 12 turnovers, but the Pirates had four more points off those turnovers than Clarke, 14 to 10.

The Pirates will come back to Breckon Sports Center on Wednesday, February 14 at 5:30pm for a Valentine's Day matchup with Benedictine College. WATCH
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